Memoir on Thar and

160. Looking at the question, therefore, in a purely financial point of view, the result is
satisfactory; looking at it from other points of view, the result is doubly gratifying. The
plundered districts of northern Katty war; the depopulated and deserted villages of Kutch;
the terror-stricken villages of Chorar, and the borders of the eastern Runn, bore evidence
in former days of the terrible power of the Desert banditti; and though the actors in those
scenes of violence are now fast passing away, there are still many living; while the
customs and practices of a people living in a primitive state of society, cannot be changed
with the same rapidity as more advanced communities move forward in the path of
civilization. As much as could reasonably have been expected has been accomplished;
crime has well nigh ceased, and is probably, if any thing, below the standard of
surrounding districts; profound tranquility, and security of person and property, prevail
every where; cultivation is gradually extending itself, while the general tone, bearing, and
feeling of the people, is conclusive evidence of the gradual progress of society, and of the
contentment of its members; so that, even though the financial result were less
satisfactory than it is, the British Government would still have secured, at a less expense
than formerly, the security of the persons and property of its allies’ subjects in Kutch and
Kattywar, to say nothing of the gain, socially .speaking, of having harmonized the
dislocated and discordant elements of society, which but a few years ago were a chaos, in
the now orderly districts of the Thurr and Parkur. The dreaded names of “ Bara Khan”
and “Shadee Khan,” the great leaders of the banditti of former years, have ceased to
terrify the more peaceably disposed inhabitants, while their descendants and kinsmen are
now numbered amongst our best Police, and most docile subjects. Nor is this fact the
least of the triumphs of civilization over barbarism. It is the result of the liberal and
judicious policy which the British Government has pursued towards those misguided and
turbulent people, who, by kindness and firmness, may be led to do anything, though
incapable of being driven. There is now every reason to hope, that the same generous
policy by which the British Government has reclaimed those wild daring marauders, will,
before many years are past, have regenerated them, and confirmed them in their present
peaceful pursuits. The dangerous crises which attend the child of tender years, and not
less the body politic, in its progress from chaos to infancy, and infancy to manhood, have
been passed; and the Desert, with its fixed revenue assessment, judicial system, police
arrangements, and last, though not least, its schools, is in as peaceful, contented and
thriving a state as could be expected or desired.
Conclusion.
161. It is beyond my province to discuss the question of intervention, and how far, in the
first instance, it would have been becoming in the British Government to withhold that
protection from its allies’ subjects, which they had a substantive right to expect, and the
affording of which led to intervention in the Thurr and Parkur districts; or how far the
measures which were adopted for that purpose, were the best which circumstances
admitted of. It may, however, be assumed that intervention in the abstract is justifiable in
a State for the defence of its own territories, and equally justifiable and necessary for the
defence of its allies’ subjects; in other words, whenever state necessity or expediency
requires it, and aggrandizement is not the object. The complete success of the measures
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